el rinconcito

For the past ten years I haven't been a heavy moviegoer, and it's been just over two years since I last went out to see a movie. I usually prefer to wait for the DVD, or for a television release, as long as it's on a channel that will run them uncut and commercial free.

Well, the bug finally bit, so I called a friend and off we went. My friend wanted to see a movie at a budget theater. I told him that it had been two years, and I wanted to see something first-run and in a nice and expensive posh cinema. I was driving and I was paying, so there! lol.

My favorite theater is the one in town called "The Grande", which I, for some reason, always pronounce it like in the Spanish, "gran-dayy." A small picture of it is at the top of this post. It's a beautiful place that looks like a giant orb with wings. I always feel pampered there. This place is expensive for this area, but letter prefect in my opinion.

What I like about "The Grande":

• the popcorn is the best I've ever had, you get a huge bag, and it's slathered with butter. The sodas are as large as a bucket. I always have a Dr. Pepper or Mr. Pibb at the cinema. It's a tradition since I was a child. I never drink these sodas anywhere else. The total price for two medium (actually huge) sodas and two medium popcorns, $23.50. Oh well, it's only once every two years.
  
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• the theater has Internet ticketing which allows you to bypass the box office and avoids you having to face a sell out upon arrivel. The drawback is that if you don't show up, you lose the money. The price for two matinee tickets, $13, plus $1 per ticket for reserving online. Not bad, actually, well it was a matinee.
  
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• this place has rich powerful sound inside. The speakers completely encircle each auditorium and are huge. I like to feel the room shake when there is a burst of sound. Also, the building is well insulated. You can hear no sound coming through the wall from an adjacent movie. I hate to see a movie where the sound is too low and you can hear the audience better than the movie.
  
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• the seats are soft and of the reclining high-back type. They also have cup holders, yay! I like to melt back into my seat during a movie. This is the only way to see a long movie, like Lord of the Rings.
  

What we went to see:

Surrogates, a sci-fi film that was just generally released on Friday. It seemed to have elements of The Matrix and A. I. Artificial Intelligence . The plot was simple and basic. You won't need any brainpower at all to get through this one, though I still found it enjoyable. Then again, it was my first movie out in years, so my standards were low and I might have liked anything. Like a lot of science fiction, maybe the evil (or miracles) in this film will actually come to be.

My favorite movie review site, Hollywoodbitchslap, called this film "a dog." They are probably right, but it was something to do and the theater was real nice!

Their review is here.